As I sat down to write this post, I scanned through the goals I shared with you for 2019 to see how I did. Honestly, I was rather impressed. The last 12 months have brought a lot of surprises – both good and really not so good. It was the kind of year where goals go out the window. But somehow I kept to the plan fairly well. Shall we review?
Raise chickens. Check! We got four chicks in April and they started laying eggs around August. They are a fun bunch of ladies and I like to make them chicken sandwiches. Sandwiches for chickens, that is. It’s peanut butter and ground flax seed on bread. They also love watermelon rind and kabocha squash peels.
Foster kittens. Nope. After finding out I was pregnant we decided that four cats of our own was enough and we should hold off on fostering for a while.
Gardening/landscaping. Check! Well, kind of. We bought some more raspberry bushes and planted a few tomato and pepper plants. I did attempt to grow some four o’clocks, but I didn’t water them consistently and the weeds outgrew the seeds.
Houseplants. Check! Last year I explained my cat-plant incompatibility dilemma and my plan to get hanging plants. Now I have a total of five plants (not counting those deceased). Two live in the guest bedroom behind closed doors, and the other three are perched up on a tall bookshelf. Maybe this year we can get a few hanging plants.
Home projects. Check! The roof has been pushed to summer 2020 (fingers crossed), but we did get some painting done inside and outside the house. Painting the house itself is a project for 2020, but that could be interesting with a little one.
Strength training. Ummm…. This is an excuse, and nothing more. But, I got pregnant. And yes, you can most definitely exercise when you are pregnant. But I also got very sick during my first trimester, and I was working something like 12 days in a row (8-12 hours per day). My work was exhausting me, and I never really got around to making strength training a habit. And that’s the end of my excuse.
Build cozy fires. Check! This is kind of funny. I thought I would have to make myself take the reigns and build fires under Kevin’s guidance. But then he had to leave for a couple of weeks, and I was all alone. And cold. So, I learned to build fires. I was pregnant, and chopping kindling was just not going to happen. So I used cardboard, and it worked pretty well in a pinch. I use kindling now, and I dare say I make a nice cozy fire.
Not too bad, right? Now lets look at 2020.
Pre-pregnancy weight. I never really worried about how much weight I was gaining during pregnancy. I stayed hydrated and ate when I was hungry. I didn’t go crazy and have a milkshake every night or anything. Altogether I ended up gaining about 45 pounds, and so far I have lost 30 of that. In 2020 those last 15 pounds can take a hike. Or maybe I should. Heh.
Read 25 books. I would love to set an audacious goal of reading 100 books, but unless most of those were written by Dr. Seuss, I don’t think that will be happening this year.
Debt. I’m still paying off student loans, and we also have a vehicle financed. Our 2020 goal is to make an $18,000 dent in the total of those two debts.
Savings. Our savings goal is split between a savings account and a retirement savings account. We’re looking to put just under $10,000 in savings and contribute $8,000 to retirement.
New roof on house. We really need to get a new roof on our house. Even if that doesn’t happen this year, we need to make the decision between metal or shingles, and DIY or contractor.
Clean up basement and garage. The basement and garage are the last frontiers of our house. When we moved in last year, we made the upstairs livable by stashing miscellaneous stuff downstairs and never dealing with it. The garage isn’t terrible, it’s mostly boxes that need to be recycled and bins we are storing for relatives.
What do you have planned for 2020?